Peter Simple; and, The Three Cutters, Vol. 1-2

by Frederick Marryat

  Chapter L

  Peter Simple first takes a command, then three West Indiamen, and twentyprisoners--One good turn deserves another--The prisoners endeavour totake him, but are themselves taken in.

  The next day I was very unhappy. The brig was in the offing waiting forme to come on hoard. I pointed her out to Celeste as we were at thewindow, and her eyes met mine. An hour's conversation could not havesaid more. General O'Brien showed that he had perfect confidence in mefor he left us together.

  "Celeste," said I, "I have promised your father--"

  "I know what has passed," interrupted she; "he told me everything."

  "How kind he is! But I did not say that I would not bind myself,Celeste."

  "No! but my father made me promise that you should not--that if youattempted, I was immediately to prevent you--and so I shall."

  "Then you shall keep your word, Celeste. Imagine everything that can besaid in this--" and I kissed her.

  "Don't think me forward, Peter, but I wish you to go away happy," saidCeleste; "and therefore, in return, imagine all I could say in this" andshe returned my salute.

  After this we had a conversation of two hours; but what lovers say isvery silly, except to themselves, and the reader need not be troubledwith it. General O'Brien came in and told me the boat was ready. I roseup--I was satisfied with what had passed, and with a firm voice I said,"Good-bye, Celeste; God bless you!" and followed the general, who, withsome of his officers, walked down with me to the beach. I thanked thegeneral, who embraced me, paid my adieus to the officers, and steppedinto the boat. In half an hour I was on board of the brig, and inO'Brien's arms. We put the helm up, and in a short time the town of StPierre was shut out from my longing sight, and we were on our way toBarbadoes. That day was passed in the cabin with O'Brien, giving him aminute detail of all that had passed.

  When we anchored once more in Carlisle Bay, we found that the hurricanehad been much more extensive in the Windward Islands than we hadimagined. Several men of war were lying there, having lost one or moreof their masts, and there was great difficulty in supplying the wants ofso many. As we arrived the last, of course we were last served; and,there being no boats left in store, there was no chance of our beingready for sea under two or three months. The _Joan d' Arc_ schoonerprivateer was still lying there, but had not been fitted out for want ofmen; and the admiral proposed to O'Brien that he should man her with apart of his ship's company, and send one of his lieutenants out tocruise in her. This was gladly assented to by O'Brien, who came on boardand asked me whether I should like to have her, which I agreed to, as Iwas quite tired of Barbadoes and fried flying fish.

  I selected two midshipmen, Swinburne, and twenty men, and having takenon board provisions and water for three months, I received my writteninstructions from O'Brien, and made sail. We soon discovered that themasts which the American had sold to the schooner, were much too largefor her; she was considerably overmasted, and we were obliged to be verycareful. I stood for Trinidad, off which island was to be my cruisingground, and in three weeks had recaptured three West Indiamen, when Ifound myself so short of hands, that I was obliged to return toBarbadoes. I had put four hands into the first vessel, which, with theEnglishmen, prisoners, were sufficient, and, three hands into the twoothers; but I was very much embarrassed with my prisoners, who amountedto nearly double my ship's company remaining on board. Both themidshipmen I had sent away, and I consulted with Swinburne as to whatwas best to be done.

  "Why, the fact is, Mr Simple, Captain O'Brien ought to have given usmore hands; twenty men are little enough for a vessel with a boommainsail like the one we have here; and now we have only ten left; but Isuppose he did not expect us to be so lucky, and it's true enough thathe has plenty of work for the ship's company, now that he has to turneverything in afresh. As for the prisoners, I think we had better runclose in, and give them two of our boats to take them on shore. At allevents, we must be rid of them, and not be obliged to have one eyealoft, and the other down the hatchway, as we must now."

  This advice corresponded with my own ideas, and I ran in-shore, gavethem the stern boat, and one of the larger ones, which held them all,and sent them away, leaving only one boat for the schooner, which wehoisted up in the star-board chess-tree. It fell a dead calm as we sentaway the prisoners; we saw them land and disappear over the rocks, andthought ourselves well rid of them, as they were twenty-two in number,most of them Spaniards, and very stout ferocious-looking fellows. Itcontinued calm during the whole day, much to our annoyance, as I wasvery anxious to get away as soon as I could; still I could not helpadmiring the beauty of the scenery--the lofty mountains rising abruptlyfrom the ocean, and towering in the clouds, reflected on the smoothwater, as clear as in a looking-glass, every colour, every tint,beautifully distinct. The schooner gradually drifted close in-shore, andwe could perceive the rocks at the bottom, many fathoms deep. Not abreath of wind was to be seen on the surface of the water for severalmiles round, although the horizon in the offing showed that there was asmart breeze outside.

  Night came on, and we still lay becalmed. I gave my orders to Swinburne,who had the first watch, and retired to my standing bed-place in thecabin. I was dreaming, and I hardly need say who was the object of myvisions. I thought I was in Eagle Park, sitting down with her under oneof the large chestnut trees, which formed the avenue, when I felt myshoulder roughly pushed. I started up--"What is the matter? Who's that--Swinburne?"

  "Yes, sir. On with your clothes immediately, as we have work on hand, Iexpect." And Swinburne left the cabin, and I heard him calling the othermen who were below. I knew that Swinburne would not give a false alarm.In a minute I was on deck, and was looking at the stern of the schooner."What is that, Swinburne?" said I.

  "Silence, sir. Hark! don't you hear them?"

  "Yes," replied I; "the sound of oars."

  "Exactly, sir; depend upon it, those Spaniards have got more help, andare coming back to take the vessel; they know we have only ten hands onboard."

  By this time the men were all on deck. I directed Swinburne to see allthe muskets loaded, and ran down for my own sword and pistols. The waterwas so smooth, and the silence so profound, that Swinburne had heard thesound of the oars at a considerable distance. Fortunate it was, that Ihad such a trusty follower. Another might have slumbered, and theschooner have been boarded and captured without our being prepared. WhenI came on deck again, I spoke to the men, exhorted them to do theirduty, and pointed out to them that these cut-throat villains wouldcertainly murder us all if we were taken, which I firmly believe wouldhave been the case. The men declared that they would sell their lives asdearly as they could. We had twenty muskets, and the same number ofpistols, all of which were now loaded. Our guns were also ready, but ofno use, now that the schooner had not steerage-way.

  The boats were in sight, about a quarter of a mile astern, whenSwinburne said, "There's a cat's-paw flying along the water, Mr Simple;if we could only have a little wind, how we would laugh at them; but I'mafraid there's no such luck. Shall we let them know that we are ready?"

  "Let every one of us take two muskets," said I: "when the first boat isunder the counter, take good aim, and discharge into one of the boats;then seize the other musket, and discharge it at the other boat. Afterthat we must trust to our cutlasses and pistols; for if they come on,there will be no time to load again. Keep silence, all of you."

  The boats now came up full of men; but as we remained perfectly quiet,they pulled up gently, hoping to surprise us. Fortunately, one was alittle in advance of the other; upon which I altered my directions, anddesired my men to fire their second musket into the first boat, as, ifwe could disable her, we were an equal match for those in the other.When the boat was within six yards of the schooner's counter, "Now!"said I, and all the muskets were discharged at once, and my men cheered.Several of the oars dropped, and I was sure we had done great execution;but they were laid hold of by the other men, who had not been pulling,and again the boat advanced to t
he counter.

  "Good aim, my lads, this time," cried Swinburne; "the other boat will bealongside as soon as you have fired. Mr Simple, the schooner hasheadway, and there's a strong breeze coming up."

  Again we discharged our ten muskets into the boat, but this time wewaited until the bow-man had hooked on the planeshear with hisboat-hook, and our fire was very effective. I was surprised to find thatthe other boat was not on board of us; but a light breeze had come up,and the schooner glided through the water. Still she was close under ourcounter, and would have been aboard in a minute. In the meantime, theSpaniards who were in the first boat were climbing up the side, and wererepulsed by my men with great success. The breeze freshened, andSwinburne ran to the helm. I perceived the schooner was going fastthrough the water, and the second boat could hardly hold her course. Iran to where the boat-hook was fixed on the planeshear, and unhooked it;the boat fell astern, leaving two Spaniards clinging to the side, whowere cut down, and they fell into the water. "Hurrah! all safe!" criedSwinburne; "and now to punish them."

  The schooner was now darting along at the rate of five miles, with anincreasing breeze. We stood in for two minutes, then tacked, and ran forthe boats. Swinburne steered, and I continued standing in the bows,surrounded by the rest of the men. "Starboard a little, Swinburne."--"Starboard it is."

  "Steady--steady: I see the first boat, she is close under our bows.Steady--port--port--port a little--port. Look out, my lads, and cut downall who climb up."

  Crash went the schooner on to the boat, the men in her in vainendeavouring to escape us. For a second or two she appeared to right,until her further gunwale was borne down under the water; she turned up,and the schooner went over her, sending every soul in her to theiraccount. One man clung on to a rope, and was towed for a few seconds,but a cutlass divided the rope at the gunwale, and with a faint shriekhe disappeared. The other boat was close to us, and perceived what hadbeen done. They remained with their oars poised, all ready to pull so asto evade the schooner. We steered for her, and the schooner was nowrunning at the rate of seven miles an hour. When close under our bows,by very dexterously pulling short round with their starboard oars, weonly struck her with our bow; and before she went down many of theSpaniards had gained the deck, or were clinging to the side of thevessel. They fought with desperation, but we were too strong for them.It was only those who had gained the deck which we had to contend with.The others clung for a time, and, unable to get up the sides, one by onedropped into the water and went astern. In a minute, those on deck werelying at our feet, and in a minute more they were tossed overboard aftertheir companions; not, however, until one of them struck me through thecalf of the leg with his knife as we were lifting him over the gunwale.I do not mean to say that the Spaniards were not justified in attemptingto take the schooner; but still, as we had liberated them but a fewhours before, we felt that it was unhandsome and treacherous on theirpart, and therefore showed them no quarter. There were two of my menwounded as well as myself, but not severely, which was fortunate, as wehad no surgeon on board, and only about half a yard of a diachylumplaster in the vessel.

  "Well out of that, sir," said Swinburne, as I limped aft. "By the LordHarry! it might have been a _pretty go_."

  Having shaped our course for Barbadoes, I dressed my leg and went downto sleep. This time I did not dream of Celeste, but fought the Spaniardsover again, thought I was wounded, and awoke with the pain of my leg.